Last week we noted as initial claims stuck below 500,000 (once considered an awful number but now considered “green shoots”) hidden in the dirty details was a massive increase in claims staked under a waterfall of unemployment extensions granted. Last week, 265,000 Americans… this week? Even worsebetter no wait worse. (exceeded expectations?)… 328,000 Americans. That’s a quite impressive 600,000 Americans we have welcomed to the emergency programs… shhh, keep it under wraps. I believe this represents many Americans who had exhausted benefits (now ranging from 1.5 – 2 years in many parts of the country), and now are coming back into the system as the latest extensions take place. Also many Americans who were in the traditional continuing claims … which only lasts for so many weeks… and are migrating over to the emergency programs for the first time. This reflects my call that we would embark not just on cyclical unemployment, but structural unemployment. [tip ZeroHedge]

327,729. That is how many people shifted to Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs in the last week alone, hitting an all time record high of 4.2 million! So as everyone is focused on the benign picture of initial claims in the last week which was “only” 474,000, the number of people rolling off continuing benefits has exploded and is now a stunning 592,579 only in the last two week.

Those 1.2M+ census jobs cannot come fast enough… we are running out of places to hide unemployed Americans. Someone get me those blue pills… stat!

Mark Hanna is President and Owner of Hanna Capital, LLC, a registered investment advisory firm. Mark has been a follower of markets since the late 80s, with a focus on individual equities since the mid 90s. He has been a well known commentator in the financial blogosphere for the past 5 years, following a career in corpoporate finance and accounting. Mark attended the University of Michigan where he graduated with a degree in Economics.

As an avid reader, Market Montage is the personal blogging site for Mark to share his views on economics, markets, and the like. Occasional cynicism and wit shall be deployed in his postings.